


A Change of Heart

by orphan_account



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint and Coulson to the rescue, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Interrogation, Natasha gets captured, Non-Graphic Violence, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-15
Updated: 2016-07-15
Packaged: 2018-07-24 05:40:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7496007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Agent Romanoff has been captured and Clint and Coulson think that she will betray them and SHIELD to save herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Change of Heart

**Author's Note:**

> This kinda sucks but the idea has been in my head for a while so if anyone else wants to try writing this, that would be nice.
> 
> Title is from The 1975- Change of Heart bc I put my playlist on shuffle and that was the first song
> 
> Enjoy lmao

****

When Clint got the call from Coulson he was more than a little surprised. Him and Romanoff had only just received their first mission together about a week prior to the phone call and that was after everything had already gone to shit; Clint was _fairly_ certain Fury was going to have his balls for this one.

As Clint had been the ‘ _motherfucker_ ’ that brought _the_ Black Widow to SHIELD alive, as opposed to in a body bag like his debrief had said, she was, in Fury’s words ‘ _your motherfucking responsibility_ ’ and so when Clint calls in to Coulson and tells him, in that nonchalant voice he uses when he knows he’s fucked up, that the Black Widow had been captured, it was apparently his fault. Which was _total_ bullshit! It’s not his problem that she has some kind of death wish. In fact she was probably just waiting for an excuse to leave SHIELD- selling them out to a terrorist organisation seems like an easy solution. She probably wouldn't even let them get as far as idle threats before telling them everything she knows about SHIELD- which is admittedly quite a lot as he never could keep his mouth shut for very long, especially when it was to do with SHIELD. It was just _so cool_. Either way, it was pretty obvious that she wasn't going to risk her life for an organisation she has no loyalty towards which leaves it up to him and Coulson, as their handler, to retrieve her and neutralise any threats. Basically, they were being sent to pick up her, dead or alive, and kill the people that she had told information to. Great.

Clint walked to the hangar at an ungodly time in the morning with his second cup of coffee, wearing a rumpled, threadbare t-shirt that he had slept in and a pair of worn blue jeans with a hole in the right thigh, he didn't exactly look mission ready. Coulson took one look at him and sighed, knowing that he would be dealing with the tired assassin for the whole 4 hour flight but not feeling too concerned as he knew how quickly Hawkeye could switch to mission mode at a moment's notice.

“Good morning, Agent.” Despite having a close relationship with Clint, he did actually  _try_ to be professional while at work.

“Mornin’, Sir.” Clint grinned back and walked onto the quinjet with a mocking salute. He was such a little shit.

  
-

Natasha Romanoff had been awake for a while now, keeping her eyes closed and not straying away from her breathing pattern. _Catalogue your surroundings_ _Natalia. Know the situation before opening your eyes_. She had only been captured a number of times before and yet she had perfected the skill of feigning unconsciousness to get her bearings; wooden chair, hands handcuffed together and tied to the back of the chair, legs tied to the chair with rope, no one in the room but two guards posted outside. _Idiots_. So far no one had entered her room so she opened her eyes to get a clearer view of where she was being kept.

The four walls were a dull grey colour with dried blood as the only decor, the door was steel but painted the same colour and with no door handle on the inside. _Okay, a little bit more difficult to escape, but you have to find out what they want first._ Her investigation was cut short when a series of bolts were being moved on the door and then a short but intimidating man, flanked by two larger men, strided through the door.

“Ah, _Black Widow_ , awake at last.” Short But Intimidating said through a smile that was a little too toothy to be genuine. He spoke with a gravely Russian accent, _typical_ , and was pulling a small knife out of a sheath at his thigh as he progressed closer to her.

When she didn't look up, he growled and forcefully pulled her head up with a rough hand on her chin and made her meet his eye.

“Not talking?” His question was met with her stony silence and he gave a grunt of frustration and slapped her, his ring catching her cheekbone. The slap echoed off the grimy walls and she spat the blood from her mouth into his face with a mischievous grin. _Hawkeye was really starting to rub off on her_. The man gestured to his goons and one of them _actually cracked his knuckles_ before advancing. She rolled her eyes, bored already, she could have easily broke out of her bonds- just dislocate her thumb- and escaped but she owed it to Hawkeye and SHIELD to find out what these idiots want with her. They saved her life, the least she could do was gain some intel on the terrorists they were supposed to be taking out in the first place, even if she did get beat up.

So she steeled herself for their questions about SHIELD and resolutely told them nothing. Every time they tried another torture technique, she was reminded of a worse method from Red Room, and endured anything they could think of. By the time they had given up, she had been electrocuted, waterboarded, and was missing three fingernails as well as being covered in bleeding cuts and bruises. She was sure she had felt at least two ribs crack but she had started feeling dizzy after the fourth blow to the temple. Although she could barely breathe and her whole body radiated pain, she let herself smile as she was pulled unconscious once again. _She didn’t betray SHIELD, she was on her way to repaying her debt to Hawkeye._

-

“I’m telling you, Sir, as much as I like Romanoff, she’s not going to let herself be beaten to a pulp for SHIELD, I mean, yeah, she showed that she was willing to cooperate with us but it’s not like she had a choice y’know? She probably just didn’t want us to kill her.” Barton had been trying to convince Coulson that Romanoff would have sold out SHIELD for the past half an hour and he was getting tired of hearing it, even if he did agree.

“Barton, I know your opinion, and honestly I think you might be right. If it were up to me we might leave her there but Fury is convinced that she wouldn’t give up information so we have to go. Besides, wouldn’t you feel like a bit of a dick if she did actually need help?” Coulson gave him a sarcastic little smirk that betrayed his professional manner and reminded Clint why he was his best friend.

“ _Fine_! But if she's gone or if she’s now like a terrorist, you owe me.” Clint replied with a small twist of his mouth.

-

Clint and Coulson had arrived at the compound where the Widow was being held if the tracker in her neck was correct. They both took out their weapons and shot on sight- they were _terrorists_ , it was OK- as they made their way around the dimly lit corridors (and what was with bad guys and low lighting?). There seemed to be more guards when they arrived on one corridor so with some hand signals and head nods, they took them out and Hawkeye used a small explosive arrow to open the heavy metal door. He sent a smug grin over to Coulson who rolled his eyes exasperatedly. Clint _really_ loved his arrows.

When the door swung open, they raised their weapons once again, not sure what they’d find.

“Okay, this looks bad.”

Both Clint and Coulson’s expressions were morphed into one of shock at the sight of the Black Widow dripping a mixture of water and blood onto the floor from her slumped form in the chair.   
They both reacted at the same time, Clint moving over to her seemingly lifeless body and Coulson moving to block the door while they checked to see if she was alive.

“Shitshitshitshit _**Coulson**_!” Clint was really panicking now, he thought she was dead and he felt like such a _prick_ for thinking that she would betray them.

Coulson was much calmer in his approach, sensibly checking for a pulse and finding a weak one at the base of the neck. He felt sick when he saw the amount of injuries she had, she was bleeding from cuts all over her body and he could see- _yep_ those were electrical burns. _Fuck_.

He lightly tapped her face, being mindful of her bruises and repeated “Romanoff” until she stirred with a light groan.

Her eyes struggled to focus for a while, blinking away her disorientation and taking stock of the pain. She thought they had given up trying to get her to talk and she really wasn't thrilled about going through it all again but she wasn't going to give in this easily, wasn’t going to just throw away all of the trust that SHIELD had only recently put in her.

“Natasha.” That was Coulson’s voice, she knew that, but why was he here? She didn’t understand why he would come to get her. It was _only_ an interrogation. She’s had a lot worse and besides, she wants to prove herself to him, not force him to come and rescue her. 

After making sure that she was fully awake and coherent, Clint moved to untie her but when he got behind her he was prepared to see her wrists bloodied and mangled in attempt to escape and yet there was _nothing_. Only some slight redness from rubbing against handcuffs and rope but it suddenly hit him that _she hadn’t even tried to escape_. His stomach dropped further when he realised that she not only endured all of the torture but that she endured it for SHIELD, who he was certain she was going to sell out at the first offer. She was obvious serious about starting a new life if she was willing to go through this for an organisation that still didn’t really trust her. _God_ he felt sick. He really owed her an apology.

-

After Natasha declined medication for the third time, the nurse just let her be and moved on to another Agent. She had just let out a breath of relief at finally being alone when she heard someone punching in the code for her room in medical. _N_ _ot another doctor_  she thought disdainfully. When the door opened, the last person she expected to see was Barton carrying a disgustingly large bouquet of garishly coloured flowers with a sheepish grin on his face.

“Uh, hey.” He sounded so awkward that she was about to put him out of his misery when he placed the flowers next to her bed and took a seat.

“So I wanted to say I’m sorry,” She open her mouth to protest but he cut her off by raising his hand, “No I have to say this. When I first realised they took you my first thought was ‘I’m gonna be in so much trouble’ not ‘I hope she’ll be alright’ and that's- _God that’s so wrong_. I honestly thought that you would just tell them what you know and move on y’know? I don’t even know why, I mean you’ve always listened and paid attention during your probation and you never even hinted at betraying us so I don’t- I’m just, I’m sorry.” He cut off his own rambling when he noticed the look on her face and grimaced at how he must have sounded.

“I don’t blame you.” She replied in a tight voice. “ I wouldn’t have trusted me either but I saw them come at you with the tranq and I couldn’t just let them take you. You’re SHIELD’s best asset and I figured that SHIELD would be pissed at me for letting them take their best agent when I’m easily expendable. I owe you my life after all.” She finished with a weak laugh and he realised with a start that that was the first time he’s heard her laugh. Then what she said actually caught up to him.

“What do you mean tranq?”

“You didn’t know?”

“Know what? I feel like I’m missing something.”

“They- the terrorists- they shot a tranq dart at you, I thought you knew that?” Her face was scrunched up in confusion and he would never tell her but she looked _adorable_.

  
“So what, you jumped in front of it like you’re in an action movie?” He replied sarcastically, chuckling to himself until her saw her expression and- _oh_. “You actually did, didn’t you?” At her hesitant nod he sucked in a breath and he let out a quiet curse. “Why’d you do that, Nat?” The nickname just slipped out but she didn’t seem to notice so he figured it was okay.

The nickname made her feel warm in her chest and she almost smiled before answering, “I owe you.”   
As if it was that simple. As if she hadn’t risked her life for SHIELD, for _him_.

“You don’t really believe that do you?”

She looked confused again, her eyebrows furrowed together which must have been painful with the amount of cuts on her face, “Of course I do, you saved me.”

Clint let out a small puff of air and tried to come up with the words to make her understand that that’s not how it worked, that she didn’t owe him _anything_ , especially her life, when she spoke up again.  
  
“Look, Clint, I know what you’re going to say, that I don’t owe you anything, but _I do_. Nothing you can say will change that. I’m loyal to you and I’m going to stay that way. Now you don’t have to go on anymore missions with me, you don’t even have to like me, but I will still follow you.” At his slightly uncomfortable look she amended, “Not literally.” with a small smile.

Clint knew that they had to seriously discuss this, that she needed to know that she was not expendable and that she couldn’t live her life carrying a ledger, but when he looked at her smirk and raised eyebrow, he found himself smiling and saying, “Okay, partner,” with a southern drawl and a tip of his invisible hat. Her smile grew and he knew he had made the right choice when he spared her life.


End file.
